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John Perpich grabs his hard hat and steel-toed boots and starts trudging through the mud to Vancouver's first green school. He's not exactly enthused. "It's been a pain in the butt," he shrugs. "Three years of hell."

Mr. Perpich is principal of Charles Dickens Elementary School. In 2005, the province's Seismic Mitigation Program listed the 1912 East Vancouver property as the third most unstable school in the city. "It wasn't going to take an earthquake to knock us down," he laughs. "You could literally see daylight through the foundations."

So the Vancouver School Board decided to start from scratch. When the new Charles Dickens finally opens its doors to students on May 22, it will be the most environmentally friendly school in Vancouver - and a template for future school construction in the province. With geothermal heating, rainwater flush toilets and motion sensor lighting, the building offers teachers the opportunity to talk to students about green concerns in an environment that illustrates the issues.

The city was already looking at ways to make its institutional buildings greener. After consultations with architects and the community, the school board found it would be cheaper to rebuild Charles Dickens than upgrade it. That offered an opportunity to construct a new school, located on the site of the original's playground, in accordance with the internationally recognized LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification program.

Stantec, the architects awarded the project, have achieved silver status on the school (the same as Port Moody's Heritage Woods Secondary School) and are hopeful they may yet be awarded gold. Elsewhere in the country, an elementary school in Windsor, Ont., named after David Suzuki and scheduled to open in fall 2009, is aiming for platinum status.

Much of what makes the Charles Dickens building green is underground. Thirty-two 90-metre pipes have been bored into the earth to capture geothermal heat. An expensive initial outlay, the system is expected to more than pay for itself during the school's lifetime. The only carbon emissions produced are from the electric pump that pulls the energy from the earth. The system gives each classroom independent temperature control. An underground parkade offers both designated bike storage and bays for electric vehicles.

The children are more likely to be impressed by the large garage-style doors that can be drawn up completely on sunny days, providing access to an amphitheatre for al fresco eating. Or the rooftop teaching garden they will help plant and manage themselves.

Mr. Perpich was given the chance to have design input from Day 1, and his first concern was that there be plenty of natural light. That fit in well with the green theme, and the airy classrooms are punctuated with windows. The artificial lights - as well as the heating and cooling system - are occupancy-sensitive, switching themselves off when rooms are empty.

Some considerations are more mundane: Midway through our tour, Mr. Perpich nabs a man with a clipboard to press him about sprinkler covers. "We must have them outside the classrooms upstairs," he insists. "If the kids can twist them as they go into class, we'll have water over hell's half acre in no time."

Water has been a tricky subject throughout the planning. In Vancouver, city bylaws state that all roof water must be directly connected to the city's storm water system - but Stantec wanted to use collected rainwater to flush the toilets. After almost a year of protracted negotiations, they were given permission to install a large cistern and are already redirecting a substantial overflow back to the storm drains.

The LEED program allocates a number of points for the use of recycled materials. Despite Charles Dickens being a replacement building, Stantec struggled to gain marks in that area. "The difficulty is that we are replacing an existing building, while the original continues to operate at full capacity," project designer Jesse Garlick said. "We couldn't disrupt the education of the students."

Another disappointment was the lack of a green roof. "We wanted to put one on the top of the classrooms and the gymnasium, but for financial reasons we had to use TPO [ThermoPlastic Olefin]."

Right now, Mr. Perpich is more concerned that the building will be ready on time. Students and faculty were originally scheduled to move in over the Christmas break last year, then spring break this year. With only two weeks to go before the new finish deadline of May 15, the lunchroom is piled high with paint cans, tools and a 12-metre flag pole, and the building is surrounded by a muddy quagmire.

An alumni gathering took place last night to say goodbye to the original building and fundraise for a new playground. One former student has donated $25,000 and said that if the school can raise another $15,000, he'll match that, too.

Initial plans to sell the red bricks as mementoes were scrapped. "Someone pointed out they were covered with layers of lead paint," Mr. Perpich said.

"And if they think I'm going to sit and scrub a pile of bricks with chemical paint strippers, they're crazy."

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How Dickens is green

Geothermal heating. Pipes bored 90 metres into the ground will draw heat directly from the earth.

Recycling of collected rainwater. All toilets will be flushed with retrieved water.

Green issues as a teaching tool. A bio-swale garden will demonstrate the hydrologic cycle. The school will have its own weather station - each classroom is wired to get the data - a rooftop teaching garden and butterfly garden.

Occupancy-sensitive light and heating.

Low-emission sealants and paints.

Environmentally friendly materials. The gymnasium floor is made from recycled tires.

Electric car parking and bike storage.

Dedicated recycling station.

Drought resistant, indigenous plants.

Follow the LEED

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System) awards credit in the following categories:

Sustainable sites

Water efficiency

Energy and atmosphere

Materials and resources

Indoor environmental quality

Innovation and design process

There are 69 possible points with four levels of certification:

Platinum - 52-69 points

Gold - 39-51 points

Silver - 33-38 points

Certified - 26-32 points

LEED for Schools also recognizes the unique nature of the design and construction of K-12 schools.

Fiona Morrow